When Nick Foligno was traded to the Blue Jackets in July, he had a few short weeks to get everything together and get settled in his new home while trying to meet his new teammates.

A group of players got together for informal skates at the OhioHealth Ice Haus in August before the lockout, and as some looked elsewhere for options to play, the group slowly dwindled and Foligno himself had to find other places to skate.

Now that the team is beginning to reconvene in Columbus in preparation of the 2013 NHL season, Foligno is excited on two levels: one, the thrill of playing NHL hockey is on the horizon, and also, he feels "officially" part of the Blue Jackets after a practice today with eight teammates.

"Yeah, I really do (feel part of the Blue Jackets now)," Foligno told BlueJackets.com. "Now that I know I can go around the locker room and meet everybody again. I'm so happy to be here, and so excited for the season to start and I'm really looking forward to a good season here and having a lot of fun."

The 25-year-old forward was acquired shortly after free agency began in exchange for Marc Methot, and GM Scott Howson was attracted to Foligno's versatility and ability to play all three forward positions. He's coming off a career year with 15 goals and 47 points with the Ottawa Senators, and being in his mid-20s, Howson and the Blue Jackets feel Foligno's best hockey is ahead of him.

After a signing a three-year, $9.25 million contract with the Blue Jackets on July 6, Foligno is anxious to get back into game shape and prepare for what he hopes is a successful debut season in Columbus.

The New Jersey Devils won the Stanley Cup in June of 1995, with the National Hockey League playing a 48-game regular season that began in mid-January. Circumstances are similar to what the league and its team face now, with the season likely to begin in the next two weeks.

For the Blue Jackets, the season can't come soon enough and nine of them took to the ice this morning at the OhioHealth Ice Haus in anticipation of things getting under way. More players are expected to arrive in the coming days and more are arriving today pending travel arrangements, but the prevailing emotion of excitement was the theme of the morning.

After a 70-minute or so skate today - which also featured former Ohio State forward Dave Steckel (Toronto Maple Leafs) - the focus shifted toward the re-shaped Blue Jackets and the club's outlook for what figures to be a fast and furious NHL season.

Who has the advantage? What do players and teams need to focus on to stay fresh? There was a variety of thoughts and ideas, which will no doubt be discussed in further detail once formal meetings and practices begin.

"You have to get out to good start, and you have to stay healthy," James Wisniewski told BlueJackets.com. "We can't have a start like we had last year and be 1-7, that just can't happen. If you can start off hot, you're literally sitting pretty."

Phil Housley shrugged off a disappointing preliminary round, saying he simply wanted his team to get better with each game. Mission accomplished.

With two clutch goals from Rocco Grimaldi, who was benched for an entire game earlier in the tournament, Team USA put away defending champion Sweden 3-1 to win the gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship today.

John Gibson, by far the best American player in the tournament (and quite possibly the best, period), stood tall in goal for the United States and earned the honor as tournament MVP.

Team USA knew Sweden would be its sternest test, not only as last year's champion but one of the most solid all-around teams in the tournament. Even without three of its top players out to injury, Sweden had a tough road to the gold medal game and had to outlast host Russia in a shootout just two days ago.

And the Swedes were better from the start, showing their puck-possession game and strong puck support that's made them a junior hockey powerhouse in the last decade. After scoring the opening goal of the game, though, Team USA seemed to awaken and got started with its pressure game -- and Sweden struggled with it.

With two lineups bolstered by NHL-caliber talent and gold-medal-or-bust hopes upon arriving in Ufa, Russia, both clubs stunningly stumbled after duking it out in the "group of death" preliminary round. The Canadians steamrolled opponents en route to sweeping the group and earning an automatic bye to the semifinal, while the Russians survived a quarterfinal scare from Switzerland and earned a date with Sweden in the semis.

The results that followed were -- to say the least -- unexpected.

Team USA, fresh off a quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic, managed to handily knock off Canada even though the Americans were playing their sixth game in eight days. Jake McCabe scored a pair of goals in the first period, and the U.S. eventually chased Malcolm Subban in the second period on their way to a 5-1 victory.

Russia, with high expectations as the host country and an improved style more suitable to the international game, saw its gold medal hopes end in a shootout loss to Sweden. The Russians clawed back from an early 2-0 deficit , tied the game in the third period, but could not convert a gift-wrapped power play chance in overtime.

Disappointment was the prevailing emotion following Canada's semifinal loss, generating a lot of reflection on one of their sloppiest performances in recent memory.

About 90 minutes have passed since Team USA put the finishing touches on a 5-1 win over Canada in today's World Junior semifinal, but we're not done with the analysis.

Think back to the Americans' preliminary round loss to Russia: a hard-fought, competitive game that the U.S. probably deserved a better outcome from. It set up a must-win game against Slovakia if they had designs on advancing to the medal round -- and since then, it's been all business.

Team USA scored nine goals against the Slovaks, seven more in its quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic and added five tallies this morning against the Canadians. While goaltending has been a major contributor (John Gibson has been perhaps the best player in the entire tournament), the U.S. has benefited from an offense that's hit another gear in the last four days.

What exactly is behind the Americans' red-hot run to the gold medal game? Here are my "five factors" for Phil Housley's club:

There was a prevailing line of thinking prior to this World Junior tournament: if the Americans were to compete for a gold medal, goaltender John Gibson would have to be their best player.

Check and check.

Gibson made 33 saves in today's 5-1 semifinal win over Canada in what was easily Team USA's finest and most complete performance of the tournament. The U.S. moves on to play in the gold medal game on Saturday but first awaits the winner of the Russia/Sweden semifinal later today, and they'll have plenty of positive game tape to watch in preparation.

From the drop of the puck, the U.S. controlled the pace of the game and held the territorial edge throughout. Team USA held leads of 2-0 after the first period, 4-0 after the second and withstood a brief Canadian push in the third period thanks in large part to Gibson's play between the pipes.

"He's been outstanding for us, and given us a chance to win every game," U.S. head coach Phil Housley told Rob Simpson post-game. "He's made big saves at key times."

Housley also praised his team's composure after getting out to a solid lead, and not allowing Canadato capitalize on mistakes or draw the Americans into needless penalties.

"We settled in and we built off that lead, and we had to weather the storm in the third period," he said. "I'm very proud of our guys."

Team USA and Canada, on the biggest stage to date in this tournament, battling it out with everything on the line. Winner gets its name on the gold medal game dance card, and the loser settles for a bronze medal (at best).

Apologies to other games going on in the tournament, but it really doesn't get much better than this.

And the stage they're playing on has been set up wonderfully: Canada has stormed through the tournament and won each of its first four games -- albeit not without a bit of drama. The Canadians blew out Germany to open the World Junior, fell behind 3-1 to Slovakia before rallying for a win, held off the United States in a thriller, and finished off the preliminary round with a mighty impressive victory over the host Russians.

Defeating Russia clinched the "group of death" for Canada, and pushed it through to the semifinal to await the winner of yesterday's quarterfinal between the United States and the Czech Republic.

For the Americans, they feel as if they are getting better with each game and are more well-positioned to take on Canada than a week ago. A big reason is confidence; Team USA only got one puck behind Malcolm Subban in the preliminary round meeting, and they really had to work for it. The same happened in their game with Russia -- Andrei Makarov made 41 saves and stymied nearly everything the U.S. threw his way.